Talha Qamar - Sacred Games: Review

Subject: Creative writing
Practical work carried out under supervision of Siddique Soomro Sb

Sacred Games:

A Review

Talha Qamar

2k17/MC/102

Sacred Games is an Indian web television thriller series based on Vikram Chandra's 2006 novel of the same name. The first Netflix original series in India, it is directed by Vikramaditya Motwane and Anurag Kashyap, who produced it under their banner Phantom Films. The novel was adapted by Varun Grover, Smita Singh, and Vasant Nath.

Sartaj Singh is a troubled police inspector in Mumbai police, living on sleeping pills and seeking justification from police force he nevertheless hates for its corruption. He receives an anonymous phone call from Ganesh Gaitonde, an infamous crime lord who has been missing for 16 years. He tells Singh to save the city in 25 days. This initiates a chain of events that lead us deep into India's dark underworld. In the journey, Singh is helped by a Raw agent Anjali Mathur while flashbacks detail Gaitonde's origins and how he rose to power as crime lord with the first season showing singh trying to uncover clues about Gaitode’s past.

Sacred game starts with an investigation by local police officer Sartaj Singh (Saif Ali Khan) who goes from investigating a robbery gone wrong to uncovering the engine behind the vast infrastructure of organised corruption. Tracing a mysterious phone call Sartag Singh eventually makes a fatal discovery that sends him following a growing criminal empire that extends to Bollywood business interests and maybe even his own police department.

Part of that hunt intertwines his fate with Ganesh Gaitonde (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) one of the city’s biggest organized crime bosses. As Sartaj follow the trails of evidence that Gaitonde leaves behind even after being instructed to back off the case. A series of flashbacks Gaitonde’s rise from a troubled childhood as he challenges the existing criminals and political elites. The series chronicles the events that follow other cast members include Radhika Apte, Girish Kulkarni, Neeraj Kabi, Jeetendra Joshi, Rajshri Deshpande, Karan Wahi, Aamir Bashir, Jatin Sarna, Elnaaz Norouzi, Amey Wagh, and Kubra Sait.

producers have always talked about having creative freedom when filming a web series. One can witness the same when you see the characters abusing excessively and the makers not being scared to show how religion is used as a political weapon. The series brings out the dark world of underworld, politician, police nexus.  Yet they also mention some of important events like India partition, Indira Gandhi assassination and Babri Masjid demolition when Gaitonde narrates his story which gives the series a real feel.

Anurag Kashyap directed the Ganesh Gaitonde (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) angle of the story and vikramaditya motwane looked upon the Sartaj Singh (Saif Ali Khan) part. Motwane and Kashyap, working with a far bigger canvas than they have had in their films, create a fascinating cross-weave of ideas, characters, and events. Beautifully produced, lensed, scored and performed by a mostly suitable ensemble cast, Sacred Games provides an impressive showcase of Indian craftsmanship for the global viewership targeted by Netflix. Sacred games directors have made a classic crime – thriller story.

Both Siddiqui and Khan have done an amazing work. Their performance grows better and better with every episode and keeps you hooked as to how both these men can pull such amazing characters. Besides them the other supporting actors including Radhika Apte, Kubra Sait, Neeraj Kabi, Jatin Saran with their own little stories that keep your interest intact. And I just think that everyone is so natural and into their characters it just feels like you literally watching people in their real lives rather than acting.

If you see Sacred Games only for Nawazuddin Siddiqui, you will find new in it. Likewise, if you watch the series only because of Saif Ali Khan you will get bored after 4 or 5 episodes. So I think the contrast that these have and the way they made fix together very well and that’s what works overall for Sacred Games. You have variety and you have different things going on because of the different parallel storylines. You are building up towards something what going to be very more interesting you are putting in plot about actual events that happen in India.

So the sacred games really Live’s up to the expectations. Some people found it little boring and some people found it little bold but the other people found it extremely interesting and loved the season 1 and 2 are looking forward to season 3.

Sacred Games won the Best Drama Award at the News18 iReel Awards. It won five awards from 11 nominations including Best Actor (Drama) for Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Best Supporting Actor for Jitendra Joshi, Best Writing (Drama), Best Ensemble Cast, and Best Series (Drama). Kashyap won the Best Direction (Fiction) Award while Aarti Bajaj won the Award for Best Editing at the inaugural Asian Academy Creative Awards.